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Self‐Insurance and Self‐Protection as Public Goods

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  • Tim Lohse
  • Julio R. Robledo
  • Ulrich Schmidt

Abstract

Many public goods like lighthouses and fire departments do not provide direct utility but act as insurance devices against shipwreck and destruction. They either diminish the size and/or the probability of the loss. We extend the public good model with this insurance aspect and generalize Samuelson?s efficient allocation rule when self-insurance and self-protection expenditures are pure public goods. Some comparative static results with respect to changes in income and risk behavior are derived. We analyze the interaction of private market insurance with the public good level, both for efficient provision and for private provision equilibria. The privately provided levels of self- insurance and self-protection decrease when market insurance is available, which suggests that the state should invest more in preventing not insurable risks like wars. Additionally, the state should focus on self-protection expenditures if those are better observable than private self-protection effort.
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  • Tim Lohse & Julio R. Robledo & Ulrich Schmidt, 2012. "Self‐Insurance and Self‐Protection as Public Goods," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 79(1), pages 57-76, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:jrinsu:v:79:y:2012:i:1:p:57-76
    DOI: j.1539-6975.2010.01391.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Biener, Christian & Eling, Martin & Landmann, Andreas & Pradhan, Shailee, 2018. "Can group incentives alleviate moral hazard? The role of pro-social preferences," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 230-249.
    2. Heike Auerswald & Kai A. Konrad & Marcel Thum, 2018. "Adaptation, mitigation and risk-taking in climate policy," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 124(3), pages 269-287, July.
    3. Toshihiro Ihori & Martin McGuireb, 2008. "National Adversity: Managing Insurance and Protection," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-554, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    4. Annette Hofmann & Casey Rothschild, 2019. "On the efficiency of self-protection with spillovers in risk," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 44(2), pages 207-221, September.
    5. François Salanié & Nicolas Treich, 2020. "Public and private incentives for self-protection," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 45(2), pages 104-113, September.
    6. Toshihiro Ihori & Martin McGuire, 2006. "Group Provision Against Adversity: Security By Insurance vs. Protection," CARF F-Series CARF-F-086, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.
    7. Daniel R. Petrolia & Joonghyun Hwang & Craig E. Landry & Keith H. Coble, 2015. "Wind Insurance and Mitigation in the Coastal Zone," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 91(2), pages 272-295.
    8. Fraser, Clive D., 2021. "Protection in numbers? Self-protection as a local public good," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    9. Kai A. Konrad & Marcel Thum, 2012. "The Role of Economic Policy in Climate Change Adaptation," CESifo Working Paper Series 3959, CESifo.
    10. Han Jiang & Aggey Simons, 2021. "Charitable Giving and NPOs Investment Decision in a Stochastic Dynamic Economy," Working Papers 2113E Classification-H41., University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    11. Toshihiro Ihori & Martin McGuire, 2006. "Patterns of Non-exponential Growth of Macroeconomic Models: Two-parameter Poisson-Dirichlet Models," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-450, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    12. Doncaster, C. Patrick & Tavoni, Alessandro & Dyke, James G., 2017. "Using Adaptation Insurance to Incentivize Climate-change Mitigation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 246-258.
    13. Wing Yan Lee & Derrick W. H. Fung, 2021. "Optimal Effort on Self-Insurance-Cum-Protection: A New Analysis Using Yaari’s Dual Theory," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(22), pages 1-12, November.
    14. Pan, Chen-Yu, 2020. "Protections from natural disasters as local public goods: Migration and local adaptations," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    15. Lohse, Tim & Robledo, Julio R., 2012. "Public self-insurance and the Samaritan's dilemma in a federation," Discussion Papers, Research Professorship & Project "The Future of Fiscal Federalism" SP II 2012-103, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    16. Köke, Sonja & Lange, Andreas & Nicklisch, Andreas, 2015. "Adversity is a school of wisdomː Experimental evidence on cooperative protection against stochastic losses," WiSo-HH Working Paper Series 22, University of Hamburg, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, WISO Research Laboratory.
    17. Chiradip Chatterjee & Nafisa Halim & Pallab Mozumder, 2021. "Emission Tax, Health Insurance, and Information: A Mechanism Design for Reducing Energy Consumption and Emission Risk," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 465-480, October.
    18. Tim Lohse & Julio R. Robledo, 2013. "Public Self-Insurance and the Samaritan’s Dilemma in a Federation," Public Finance Review, , vol. 41(1), pages 92-120, January.
    19. Wen-Kai Wang & Christian-Oliver Ewald, 2010. "Dynamic voluntary provision of public goods with uncertainty: a stochastic differential game model," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 33(2), pages 97-116, November.
    20. Nicklisch, Andreas & Köke, Sonja & Lange, Andreas, 2016. "Is Adversity a School of Wisdom? Experimental Evidence on Cooperative Protection Against Stochastic Losses," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145716, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    21. Salmai Qari & Tobias Börger & Tim Lohse & Jürgen Meyerhoff, 2023. "The Value of National Defense: Assessing Public Preferences for Defense Policy Options," CESifo Working Paper Series 10872, CESifo.
    22. Traub, Stefan, 2006. "The Provision of Local Public Services in a Risky Environment: An Application to Crime," Economics Working Papers 2006-03, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Economics.
    23. Vesa Kanniainen & Staffan Ringbom, 2015. "The Value of NATO Option for a New Member," CESifo Working Paper Series 5399, CESifo.
    24. Abrahamsen, Eirik Bjorheim & Asche, Frank, 2011. "On how access to an insurance market affects investments in safety measures, based on the expected utility theory," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 361-364.
    25. Grislain-Letrémy, Céline, 2012. "Assurance et prévention des catastrophes naturelles et technologiques," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/9073 edited by Villeneuve, Bertrand.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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